What God Has Joined Together

Genesis 2:15-24

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What God Has Joined Together A simple, well-defined topic A lot of emotionalism wrapped up

in it though "What if" is a common response "Just the facts, ma'am"

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The Origin Of Marriage Established by God

Genesis 2:24 – "…cleave unto his wife"

Purpose Genesis 2:18 – "…not good that the

man should be alone" "meet" (ASV), "fit" (ESV),

"comparable" (NKJV), "suitable" (NAS)

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The Origin Of Marriage Number

The establishment verses use singular forms of speech

Not until 7th generation that we see more than one Genesis 4:19 – "…Lamech took unto him

two wives" Not until Genesis 16 that we see it

again

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The Origin Of Marriage Number

Not a universal practice OT shows more monogamous

marriages than polygamous NT has no implication of a plurality of

wives 90 occurrences of "wife" and "wives" Matthew 18:25 – "…his wife…" Matthew 22:24-28 – "…the woman…"

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The Origin Of Marriage Number

The principle of Matthew 19 is valid Matthew 19:8 – "He saith unto them,

Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it hath not been so."

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The Origin Of Marriage Relationship

Love (used in 26 of the NT books) Ephesians 5:25-33 – "love your wives" Colossians 3:19 – "love your wives" Titus 2:4 – "love their husbands"

Respect/Subjection Ephesians 5:21 – "subjecting yourselves to one

another" I Peter 3:7 – "according to knowledge" Titus 2:5 – "being in subjection" I Peter 3:8-9 – "loving as brethren"

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The Origin Of Marriage Duration

I Corinthians 7:27 – "Seek not to be loosed"

I Corinthians 7:39 – "so long time as her husband liveth"

"One man plus one woman, for life" A statement clearly backed by Scripture

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Divorce Spoken of in the Bible

Deuteronomy 24:1 – "some unseemly thing"

Hebrew - tw~r+u# - used 53 other times in the OT "Nakedness and exposure of sexual

organs (usually female)" By implication – Wife is guilty of

fornication or adultery

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Divorce Spoken of in the Bible

Matthew 19:3-8 – "for every cause?" Jesus took them back to Genesis 2 They wanted to be at Deuteronomy 24 "Hardness of heart" … "From the

beginning it hath not been so"

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Divorce Jesus' ruling on divorce

12 times Jesus says, "…but I say unto you"

Matthew 5:31-32 – "but I say unto you … putteth away his wife"

Matthew 19:3-9 – "I say unto you … put away his wife"

Mark 10:2-12 – "God hath joined" Luke 16:18 – "putteth away his wife"

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DivorceGod's stated attitude on divorceMalachi 2:14-16 – "I hate putting away"

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Remarriage Summary of Scriptures

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Husband Wife Remarry?

Commits Adultery

Commits Adultery

Husband Wife

Yes No Yes No

Matthew 5:31-32 X X No No

Matthew 5:31-32 X X Yes No

Matthew 19:3-12 X X No No

Matthew 19:3-12 X X Yes No

Mark 10:2-12 X X No No

Luke 16:18 X X No No

Remarriage Note that Mark 10:2-12 shows that

the wife could also be the one doing the putting away Not that it was justified by Scripture

but that is was permitted by civil law

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Remarriage Two other instances of remarriage

I Corinthians 7:39 – "if the husband be dead"

I Corinthians 7:10-11 – "remain unmarried"

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What God Has Joined Together Guilty party may NEVER remarry

Innocent party may remarry under CERTAIN circumstances

"One man plus one woman, for life"

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